Neo-Nazi stickers on lamp-posts: Grimsby man is jailed

Nathan Worrell was previously jailed in 2008

A man who posted neo-Nazi stickers on lamp-posts has been jailed for 30 months.

Nathan Worrell, 46, was found guilty of eight offences of stirring up racial hatred at Grimsby Crown Court.

During the trial, Worrell denied the Holocaust took place and said he had been a member of the Ku Klux Klan.

He was jailed for seven years and three months in 2008 for possessing bomb-making materials and waging a hate campaign against a mixed-race couple.

Worrell described himself in court as an "ethno-nationalist" and said he did not believe in "diversity or multiculturalism".

A police raid on his home in Scott Close, Grimsby found clothing, photographs, fridge magnets and pin badges bearing Nazi symbolism.

He posted his home-made stickers with highly offensive comments on lamp-posts and street furniture in Grimsby and Hull.

'Abhorrent'

Worrell defended his actions in court as freedom of speech

Sentencing, Judge Paul Watson QC said Worrell was "wedded to the cause of far right nationalism and national socialism".

The judge made it clear he was not sentencing for political views "however abhorrent they may be".

He told Worrell: "Your conduct went far beyond the limits of freedom of opinion and expression which the law permits."

Det Ch Supt Martin Snowden from Counter Terrorism Policing North East, said: "These offences clearly show that Worrell has not learnt or changed his behaviour despite serving a previous prison sentence.

"By obtaining and distributing these hateful messages Worrell is inciting hatred, potentially threatening public safety and security as well as the stability of the local community."